Taken
by cybergirl12
Summary: A normal girl, normal life, not quite so ordinary adventure, join Cora as she gets transported to a whole new world with her best friend Dakota! Redone and hopefully better.
1. Prologue

**I don't own the Sonic characters or Archie comics. Cora belongs to me and Dakota belongs to Aia the Snow Leopard.**

_Dr. Eggman's base, Mobius…_

"I have to find a way to beat that blasted hedgehog! Not even Metal Sonic and Mecha Sally combined could beat him!" The shouts faded to murmurs as a small circular red and black robot entered. A slightly larger squared yellow robot stumbled in falling on top of the red one. "What do you buffoons want?" The clearly annoyed scientist looked over to the robots in question.

The two robots clumsily rushed forward to the scientist. "Dr. Eggman! Cubot and I just discovered a new dimension!" The circular robot motioned to the squared one, who with his short attention span, was exploring the room and knocking over any fragile object he could find. "Oops! Pardon me! 'Scuse me!" Eggman groaned at the yellow robots apologies to the in-animate objects, and then turned to the red robot. "Orbot, tell me about this dimension." Orbot nodded then revealed paper with numbers and notes scattered across the paper. "Apparently this dimension is unheard of to practically all other dimensions. Even the Zone Cops hardly know anything about it." The obsessed scientist's eyes lit up, hidden by his spectacles, and a small smile was hidden beneath his large moustache.

"Does this dimension have its own version of Sonic?" Cubot looked over his notes and shook his head. "According to this, all intelligent organics are humans." Dr. Eggman grinned wildly and chuckled. "This only makes it so much easier! Find Metal Sonic, and tell him to bring me two... participants from that dimension." Orbot's blue orbs lit up in confusion. "Participants?"

Dr. Eggman pulled up blue prints on a screen in front of him. "Participants for a little experiment I'm working on."

_Somewhere on Earth…_

Two girls were walking home from school. One with blonde hair that faded to black and the other had jet black hair. The black-haired girl scowled at her friend.

"Why do I have more homework than you, Cora?! I'm telling you, the school is rigged!" Cora's hazel eyes met the aquamarine ones of her friend. "Dakota, this is the twentieth time you asked me that, and my answer was; 'You were the one goofing off in class.'." Dakota had been complaining about the same thing since they started home. She looked over the white, aquamarine, and gold shirt, white pants, and shoes that matched her shirt's colors, and then looked over her own black T-shirt with white claw marks, black jeans, and boots with a white line that fanned out. It was obvious how different they were, so much so, it even surprised Cora that they were as close as friends could get. Dakota was the goofball, and Cora was the one that tried to keep everything in order.

Cora sighed and fastened her pace, but came to an abrupt stop when she heard a pained yelp behind her. Her eyes darted back and forth trying to find any sign of her friend. She called Dakota's name, but the only reply was from the wind and the barking of a dog a few blocks away.

She lightly set her bag down and edged forward when she saw movement ahead of her. Her eyes widened and she gasped when she felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She looked down to see a red dart in her leg. She began to feel dazed as her legs trembled. All of this eventually became too much for the twelve-year-old as she succumbed to darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

**I don't own the Sonic characters or Archie Comics. Cora belongs to me and Dakota belongs to Aia the Snow Leopard.**

_Eggman's base…_

Hazel eyes fluttered open to take in their surroundings. It took a moment or two to adjust to the dim lighting as the owner of these eyes attempted to stand, revealing the white claw mark pattern on a black T-shirt with black jeans; Cora. Her vision blurred as she was hit with a massive headache, forcing her back to the cold, metal ground. Once her vision cleared, her eyes quickly darted to the source of the light. She saw an egg-shaped man standing next to a robot of some sort.

"Well, looks like one of our participants has woken up!" Cora's eyes narrowed at him. "What are you talking about?" He smiled maliciously at the girl while he pulled a lever, turning on different lights around a machine. "I am Dr. Eggman. I have taken you and your friend to… participate in an experiment of mine."

The girl went wide eyed with realization. Her friend couldn't be here! She turned tentatively to look behind her as her doubts vanished and was replaced by horror as she gazed behind her. Dakota was against the wall behind her.

"I was going to do your friend first, but I want you to know first-hand what is going to happen to you! Metal Sonic!" The blue robot approached the girl, attempting to grab a hold of her arm. '_He hast to be bluffing! Is he really vile enough to do this to a twelve-year-old?!_'

Her doubts once again vanished as she was being dragged to the machine. The machine was like a cylinder with a generator behind it. She was roughly thrown into the glass chamber. Pain suddenly shot through her body after the entrance was sealed. She felt as though her body was rearranging itself.

She felt her teeth sharpen to a sharp point and her nails sharpened as well. Her skull began to feel like it was changing its shape entirely with the rest of her body following suit. It was pure agony and torture to the girl. Cries of pain echoed through the chamber. Her screams went unheard through the thick glass as Dr. Eggman looked at a small screen with vital signs.

Fur covered her skin as she was snatched from the machine and tossed towards the wall. She watched helplessly as her friend was dragged to the machine. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she finally welcomed the darkness and the pain subsided.


	3. Chapter 2

_**I don't own any of the Sonic characters or Archie Comics. Dakota belongs to Aia the Snow Leopard, and Cora belongs to me.**_

_Eggman's base…_

A Mobian tiger stretched and warily opened her eyes, only to shut them again to see if it was a dream. She reopened them, to find that she was truly in a cell. The walls and door were made of metal, along with metal bunks that weren't exactly the most comfortable things in the world. She noticed too, that she and Cora's bag were piled up in a corner, close to the door.

Memory flooded her mind as she called the name of her closest friends. "I'm right here!" Her eyes darted to the one who groggily replied to her. The tone of that voice held slight distain and great irritation. Her eyes landed on a wolf with fur of the deepest black, strangely wearing the same clothes as her friend. As she looked closer, she noticed gold highlights across her tail, barely noticeable at first-glance.

"You are not Cora. Cora isn't… you know, a **wolf thing**!" The hazel eyes of the wolf met Dakota's as a small grin appeared on her muzzle. "You aren't exactly the Dakota I know either, tiger girl." Dakota's eyes stared, confused at the wolf's remark. How did she know her name? "What are you talking about? I'm not a-" She paused as she looked behind her to see a tail. The unexpected happened next; a shriek echoed through their cell.

Dakota was never the one to scream like a wasp flew into the room. Cora covered her ears after the scream and growled slightly to her friend. "Would you pipe down? Now that I'm a wolf, I have sensitive ears you know!" Dakota instantly covered her mouth with her hand and made apologetic gestures. Cora was finally able to get a good look at her friend's 'new look'. She was a white tiger with black stripes, everything else about her was the same, including her… personality.

The white tiger rushed to the wolf and practically tackled her to the ground. "Who did this to us?" The wolf's smirk disappeared and looked the tiger straight in the eye. "Some guy named Eggman took us from our home for some experiment he mentioned."

"Exactly. Perhaps you want me to explain?" An all too familiar voice sounded in their cell as the door opened, revealing the egg-shaped scientist; Eggman. "You two come from a dimension, unheard of to most other dimensions. When I heard of this dimension, I got the urge to get two youths from this dimension and either roboticize them or legionize them. I learned that the people of your dimension are all human, so I thought up another plan; I would see if it was possible to turn a Human into a Mobian, which was successful, then use them to fight Sonic, because he would never want to harm youths that are fighting against their will!"

Eggman burst into insane laughter while Cora's darkened when she realized his goal. "You will never get away with this!" Her voice dripped with animosity and bitterness. "I already have, my dear." His laughter was heard from outside the cell until it dulled and eventually went unheard.

"Cora, I have a question he didn't answer." Cora's eyes drifted to her friend. "What kind of food does he have here?"

_Secret Freedom Fighter HQ…_

A middle-aged owl's eyes drifted from one of his agents to another. "King, your team is dismissed." The Mobian started towards the exit of the base, with two other wolves following suit. The owl then turned back to the remaining three agents; a silver hedgehog, a black robot, and a brown lynx. "I have heard rumors concerning Dr. Eggman. Apparently, he is working on some experiment. I want you to find out what he is up to. Your mission will start soon." The owl pulled up a file on a screen that showed instructions and where they were supposed to go; Eggman's base.


	4. Chapter 3

**I do not own the Sonic characters or Archie Comics. Cora belongs to me and Dakota belongs to Aia the Snow Leopard.**

_Eggman's base…_

'_Wake up! Wake up, Cora!'_ The voice constantly echoed through the blackness of her sleep. After a few moments, she finally obliged to stop the echoing, to stop the voice from ringing in her head. Her legs trembled as she stood and was met by the gaze of the all too familiar Eggman.

"How do you know my name?" Eggman using her name was the first thing her mind processed. "Both of your names are on your bags." She turned to her bag and noted that their names were written across one of the straps on their bag.

"Can't I sleep for just five more minutes?" Of course Dakota would have that mood; she always does. The tiger yawned then finally stood up. "Sorry for waking you up so early. There is something I want to try." He motioned to the door for them to leave the cell with Metal Sonic there to make sure they didn't try anything.

Eggman had Metal Sonic lead the two down different halls while he followed. Through some of the few windows they passed, it was obvious that it was quite early. The sun had barely risen; making it seem as though it were still night.

The metallic hedgehog, after a while of walking, leads them into a room with dim lighting, but a machine visible on the other side of the room. While the two friends were staring at the machine, two robots came from behind them and put strange collars around their neck. The two clawed at the collars in a futile attempt to get them off.

The deranged doctor snickered and snapped and, as if on cue, Metal Sonic grabbed Cora and roughly threw her into the machine. As the entrance closed, she braced herself for any pain that might occur, though instead, she felt energy pulsing through her veins. It was indeed an odd sensation, though it didn't last long, and she was soon taken out of the machine and Dakota thrown into it.

Eggman had his attention on two screens, one of Cora and the other of Dakota. Something caught his attention on Dakota's side of the screen and he called her to the middle of the room. He once again snapped his fingers and another robot came out of the shadows, armed with a gun. Dakota lashed out her arms to attack the robot, suddenly, lightning shot out from her fingertips. Eggman smiled maliciously as Cora and Dakota were amazed at the sight.

"This test was to see if you had powers. Dakota has powers over lightning and wind, though Cora can only use her claws and fighting skills. That can still be useful to me." Two robots entered the room heading straight for Cora as Eggman pushed a red button, shocking Dakota so she could not focus her powers to help Cora.

Cora learned a trick or two from her father in fighting. She knew that she needed to find the weak spots, or she would never be able to beat them. She looked over each part of the robot to find a vulnerable spot. Their heads were too high for her to reach, so her gaze fell to the legs. The knee was held together by only a few joints and wire on these two.

She smirked as an idea filled her mind. She waited until the robots were close enough to the other then rushed to get behind one of them. She wasn't speedy, but the robot's gaze only followed her movements. '_He just wants to see what I can do. That's why the robots aren't attacking." _She tried to reassure herself that the robots weren't smarter than they looked. She eventually got behind one of them and charged as fast as she could to the robot. She clawed and kicked at the joint, hoping it would break. After she finished, there were only a few wires and screws let, with the robot collapsing onto the other one.

The girl's whole body was trembling. There was no way that she could take down a robot that fought back. Her ears perked at the sound of slow clapping. "Quite impressive for a twelve-year-old with no powers. You definitely **will** be useful in the Eggman Empire!" And with that, Metal Sonic grabbed the two friends and dropped them into the cell, as if they were garbage.

A few minutes later, Cora was twiddling with a pen from her bag because of boredom. The entrance to the cell opened, revealing Eggman. "An impressive show today, girls. Be sure to expect more training tomorrow." The door was closing behind him when he stopped and grabbed the door, allowing it to open easily, Cora certainly took note of this as she stopped playing with her pen. "Especially you, Cora. I want to push you to the limit to see what your capable of." He once again turned to leave, this time for good. Cora gently tossed the pen towards the door, hoping she wouldn't miss. The pen landed between the door and the wall just as the door was about to close and kept the door slightly opened. She smirked as her plan was coming together.

_Outside of the base…_

Three figures stood outside the base, hidden by the surrounding trees and shrubs; the silver hedgehog, robot, and lynx. "You go find the database. I'll see what he's up to." The other two nodded and rushed off to the other side of the base as the silver hedgehog, now glowing a bright blue, flew to the nearest air vent.


	5. Chapter 4

**I don't own the Sonic characters or Archie comics. I own Cora and Aia the Snow Leopard owns Dakota.**

_Eggman's base…_

Using the space Cora's pen provided, she used her claws to easily pry open the entrance to their cell. As she held the door open for Dakota, she noticed her friend grab her bag. "I don't know about you, but I'm taking this with me." Cora rolled her eyes at the familiar attitude of her friend. "That bag will only slow you down." Dakota's ears twitched. "So? I don't want to lose what's in here. If my mom found out I lost my bag and the stuff in here, I'd be dead already. When we find help, we can come back for your bag, deal?"

After finally deciding to agree with Dakota, Cora led her friend down the hallway. She took the time to memorize the halls and exits. She finally found an exit after avoiding any robots for… about twenty minutes. She checked for any security cameras, and found only one, but she knew the consequences of falling into the sight of it. She waited until the camera aimed its view to another location, and darted to the other side silently, and opened the door to the outside world.

She motioned for the tiger behind her to follow, but whispered, only loud enough for Dakota to here, to wait until the time was right. Though she did not heed Cora's warning, and came into direct view of the camera. Alarms sounded and a metal door started to close behind Cora and Dakota as they rushed outside.

As the metal door was closing, Cora caught view of Eggman in some machine. He was willing to break through the walls of his own base to achieve his goals. Her eyes darted to the controls of the door and clawed at them, to make sure they could never be opened from the outside, and darted underneath the door.

"Cora! What are you doing?!" Dakota screamed in defiance of her friend's actions. "If I don't hold him back, he'll get both of us and succeed in his plan! Just go!" Cora was willing to lose her freedom to Eggman and even give in to darkness for the sake of her friend. She knew what she had to do; face Eggman and most likely lose and become legionized or worse.

The door finally closed in front of Dakota as she banged on it, with tears in her eyes and growls of defiance. She tried working the controls, even to the point of using lightning, but Cora's claws had done what they were intended to do. She backed up a few steps and darted behind her to search for any kind of help. She went faster and faster. She made it to a speed that she didn't even know as possible for her. Soon, a loud bang was heard behind her, one she heard of in science class; a sonic boom.

She slid to a stop after hearing that sound. She looked back to see she could still see the base rising over the trees, but seemed to be much farther away. She gazed at the base with her mouth ajar until she heard a sound. Not an ordinary forest sound, a different sound, a mechanical sound. Her ears perked, ready to pick up any sound from any nearby creature or machine. Suddenly, a large robot, bearing Eggman's symbol, roared from the trees, charging at Dakota like a raging bull, its mechanical parts clanking, overpowering any other possible sound in the forest. The only thing Dakota picked up as its orange color before being smacked into a tree then thrown into another one. She struggled to keep her eyes open as a red blur rammed into the robot over and over again until it was scrap metal. Dakota's last feeling was being carried in someone or something's seemingly strong arms.

_Back inside the base…_

The black wolf stood her ground defiantly against the deranged scientist. "How exactly did you turn us into… what we are now?" Eggman chuckled at her question with a devious smirk, hidden by his moustache. "I infused you two with Mobian DNA so you would turn into one, since Mobians are in a way… stronger than a human. If you ever return to your own dimension, the Mobian DNA will delude, so you return to your original form. But as long as you are in this dimension, Dakota, you, or anyone else with one of you will again be infused with the DNA. The only reason I'm telling you this now, is because once you are either legionized or roboticized and loyal to me, it won't matter what I tell you."

Cora let out a low growl at Eggman and bared her fangs. "Not without a fight." Eggman snickered as he prepared his robot. "As you wish. Meet the Egg-Crab!" Looking over the robot, it did look like a crab. It had four legs on each side of its metallic body. One claw was larger than the other, with the smaller ones looking as sharp as knives, the larger one made for grabbing and crushing.

It lashed out its sharp claw at her, which out of reflexes, she barely dodged. _'This is a time I wish I was faster!'_ The claw lashed out again and again, until Cora found her chance to strike back. The claw struck the metal wall and cut into it, causing the blades to temporarily get stuck in the wall. She clawed and kicked at the joint. Eventually, the blades were freed from the wall, the few wires that were left clinged to the robotic limb. The claw lashed out again, this time the blades getting disconnected from the metal limb, flying straight towards Cora.

A silver hedgehog was wandering through the air vents, looking for Eggman, when his ear twitched at commotion, not too far away from him. He hurried through the air vents to find Eggman and some… girl. He smirked, impressed as she clawed at the claws of Eggman's machine. He slightly gasped as the claw separated from the limb and seemed to fly straight towards the girl, seeming to want to do more damage before it became scrap.

He readied himself to catch it with his powers, but sighed in relief as the girl ducked just in time and appeared beside it with her eyes wide from shock. The scientist almost seemed to growl as he had the robot lash out the larger claw and held her against the wall. Pushing harder and harder, making it hard for her to breathe, he let her loose, then simply flicked her to the other wall with surprising force.

The hedgehog felt his ire rise as he kicked open the air vent cover, now glowing a bright blue, readied himself to send this robot to the scrap-heap.

Cora gazed up in fear as the robot raised its claw to strike. Her sight became blurred and she felt light-headed, as she started to slip into darkness, but forced herself to stay awake. The claw started to dart downward towards her. She closed her eyes to wait for the blow. "That's enough!" Cora cracked one eye open, then both eyes flew open in surprise. The crab-like robot seemed to be frozen and was glowing blue. A creature landed with ease in front of her, glowing the same color, which gave it a small amount of color, mostly grey and a small amount of blue, but mostly black. To Cora, The figure was more of a shadow than anything as her vision again blurred. The creature motioned towards the blades, which were now free from the wall, darted towards Eggman. He yelped and used this smaller, flying vehicle to escape the robot.

Cora heard a bang and saw a red glow through her blurred vision, which she identified as flames. The figure stopped glowing blue, which made him nothing more than a shadow to her blurring vision as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Cora made an effort to stand, though having to lean against the wall. "Are you okay?" The voice seemed to belong to a younger creature, maybe around his early teens. She made out quills, golden-yellow eyes, and his hand stretched towards her. She started to speak, but fell into darkness as he caught her in his seemingly strong, yet gentle arms.

The hedgehog looked down to the girl in his arms. She seemed to be no older than twelve, though with impressive agility for someone of her age. '_I'd better find Shard and Larry._' He got a better grip on her then rushed to find the others.

After searching through the base, he found the other two searching through the databases, strangely with a bag that read 'Cora'. He didn't think much of it at the time. A black and gold robot turned to him, with a cocky, yet confused smirk on his metallic muzzle. "What took you so long, Silver? I thou- Who's that?" He motioned to the girl in Silver's arms.

"I'd prefer it if you used are call-signs, 'Jack'. She's the reason I came to this room in the first place." The robot rolled his red orbs at Silver, while the lynx stared, confused. "She kinda looks like the kid in the database. Apparently she's from another world and she's called Cora, which brings us to the bag we found in one of the cells." The robot stated as a matter-of-factly. The lynx decided to step up and join the conversation. "It said that there were two here, but we didn't find any sign of the other one here, so she must have escaped."

"I think the boss might want to see the kid. Let's take her to the base with us." Silver graoned and agreed with the robot. The lynx was a bit nervous, hoping this wasn't part of his jinxes.

Cora's eyes flew open as memories flooded her mind. She looked at her surroundings as soon as her vision cleared. She was sitting on this chair of sorts. Her ears were laid back as she hoped she wasn't still in the base. She noticed a middle-aged owl enter the room from the dim lighting.

"I see you are awake now. You're here because I have a request for you. If you help me, I'll help you find your friend, Cora." She was taken aback at the fact he knew her name. "How do you know me?" The owl looked her over almost curiously. "Let's just say for now… I have eyes in different places. Do we have a deal?"

Her eyes closed for a moment as she thought. "Deal." The owl seemed to smile, pleased. "Good. Let me introduce you to the rest of my agents. Oh, you will be called 'Spades' when on a mission. Follow me." The owl exited the room as the wolf slowly followed.

Dakota groaned as someone was poking her, trying to get her up. "Five more minutes…" She was poked harder until she finally decided to open her eyes. She noticed she was surrounded by colorful animals and a… robotic dog? She thought she might be going crazy, until a yellow fox approached her. "Uh… hello? Are you okay?"

Okay, so she wasn't dreaming, she wasn't going crazy. "Can I go now? I have better things to do than watch a kid." Dakota sprung up at that remark. "I'm not a kid, I'm a pre-teen… in middle-school! There's a **huge** difference!" The red creature simply rolled his violet eyes at the tiger.

"I'm Sonic the hedgehog, that's Tails!" The blue hedgehog motioned to the fox with two tails. "That's Amy, that dog there is T-pup, and that's Knuckles. All of us, except for Knuckles are part of Team Fighters. You took quite the beating by that robot."

Dakota then remembered Cora as her eyes widened. "Actually I need some help. A friend of mine is probably still in Eggman's base. Can you help me get her out?" Sonic looked both excited and sympathetic. "Of course! We were going to the base soon anyways! You can come along and show us who your friend is!" Dakota felt a grin come to her muzzle as she nodded at the blue hedgehog.


	6. Chapter 5

**I don't own the Sonic games or Archie Comics. Cora belongs to me and Dakota belongs to Aia the Snow Leopard.**

_In front of Eggman's base…_

Dakota and Sonic waited a distance from the base for Tails to give the signal. He and T-Pup had gone ahead to deactivate the alarms. They swerved through the forest and its obstacles. They came to the entrance to find the control panel clawed at and useless, as Dakota said.

"Looks like Dakota wasn't lying. Let's go through an air vent, T-Pup." The yellow-orange fox inquired, to which the mechanical dog responded with a bark.

They arrived at the air vent, to find the panel already removed. This worried the young fox. Who had been through here? Were they friendly? These, and more thoughts, ran through his mind. He shook it off and hurriedly flew to the exit; where the remains of a crab-like robot laid in ruin, beyond repair.

He quickly opened the door, to which T-Pup trotted out and gave a short, loud bark. Dakota and Sonic's ears perked at the sound they were waiting for.

"That's the signal! Let's go!" The white tiger practically flew into the base, with the blue hedgehog following quickly.

Dakota froze at the sight before her. Metal scattered everywhere, most of it singed from fire. She violently shook her head and motioned for the others to follow, heading in the direction of what used to be her and Cora's prison cell. She hurriedly opened the door to find the room empty, with no sign anyone was there.

Her eyes widened, her body trembled, as-well as a new feeling that bombarded her, trying to force its way in. "No… No! This-this can't be! She was here!"

Sonic tried desperately to calm her. "We can find Eggman. He'll know what happened."

She seemed to calm in an instant and gave a look no one has seen before. Was it anger? Could it have been desperation? Perhaps it was a mix of both? Only Dakota could know. She spoke with a tone that held great determination. She quickly motioned for the others to follow with a new fire in her eyes. She made a sudden stop, of course the others ran past her and had to back track.

"He's in here." They listened, and surely enough mutters and shouts were heard. Sonic showed his trademark smirk and curled into a ball, spinning faster and faster to the door.

The doctor within spun around with a grunt of surprise. A cloud of smoke shrouded the ones who dared enter in such a way. He grumbled threats until the dust cleared. He seemed to growl at his nemesis, Sonic. He then recognized the tiger. She marched in, lightning seemingly flickering in the aquamarine irises.

"What have you done with Cora?" She spoke with an authority that few would have the audacity to challenge.

"Your friend? She escaped a while ago with three intruders, one was a silver hedgehog, I believe you remember, Sonic?" The doctor grunted back, not fearing the threat of the tiger.

"Fine, then. Don't get into any trouble, or we'll stop you." The hedgehog retorted, leading the others out. As they got out, Dakota scowled at Sonic.

"Were leaving? Just like that? And who is this silver hedgehog, anyway?" The tiger growled at the hedgehog with great scorn.

"The hedgehog's name is Silver, he doesn't work with Eggman, but I don't really like that guy." Sonic confessed, grimacing at the thought of the hedgehog.

"Why? What's so bad about him?" Dakota inquired, with her ears perked, and head cocked to the side.

"He comes from the future, but he comes to this time to seek a 'traitor' that probably doesn't even exist!" The hedgehog complained, his dislike obvious. Dakota paled at those words. Was he after Cora?

"W-what if he's after Cora?" She nervously tapped her claws together, fear flooding her mind.

"I doubt it. He says the 'traitor' is in the Freedom Fighters… But the team disbanded only a little while ago. Sally was roboticized, Bunnie left, Antoine close to death. That's the only thing Silver managed to predict…" He sighed mournfully, as the young fox behind him looked to the ground.

_Secret Freedom Fighter base…_

All of the agents were either seated or standing around a small, circular table, with a hologram of a skunk on what appeared to be a hover-bike, apparently known as Geoffrey St. John. Cora chose to stand, as there were no seats left. Silver tried offering her his, though she declined.

"… And our informant on the council says St. John is bound for Soumerca. We **must **know what's so important that Naugus would send his errand boy so far from his side. Agent Ace will lead the team tracking St. John and secure a tracking device so we know his movements in the future. Agent King will lead the team the team to investigate Naugus. Remember: Anonymity is your first line of defence, so use your call signs at all times. Any questions?"

To much of Cora's surprise, and the surprise of possibly a few others, it was Silver who raised his hand.

"Er… More like a reminder…" He wore a sheepish smile as he spoke. Maybe it was from embarrassment? Only he could know.

"I remember our deal. While your away, I will be going over your notes and will identify the 'trator' your hunting for. You scratch my back, I scratch yours."

"R-right. Just making sure." Silver again bore that sheepish smile and gave a hesitant thumbs up.

"All of you are now dismissed." The owl, Harvey Who stated, then leaving that room in the base.

Cora heaved a heavy sigh. This was her chance to prove herself. Being only twelve, many of the agents doubted her ability to be a Secret Freedom Fighter. This was her chance to prove them wong.


	7. Chapter 6

_**I don't own the Sonic characters or Archie Comics. I own Cora and Aia the Snow Leopard owns Dakota.**_

_Near Knothole…._

The white tiger paced back and forth. Her friend hadn't been found, in fact, there was no sign of her at the base. She thought over the words Sonic said about the hedgehog known as Silver. She thought of Eggman's words. So her friend was either rescued or captured by more than one person? Who do they work for? Many more questions ran through her mind.

The cobalt blue hedgehog was leaning against a tree, a thoughtful look in his eye. The yellow-orange fox sitting next to the tree, and the robotic dog, T-Pup, curled up next to the young fox. Dakota's ears shot up at the sound of running. She looked up to see the red echidna, Knuckles, slide to a stop.

Knuckles looked around, but was confused to find no-one new was there. His violet eyes fell on Dakota, looking for an explanation. She immediately knew what he meant.

"Cora wasn't there. Eggman said she was rescued by three intruders. I don't know who took her or where she went." Her aquamarine eyes started to wet with a single tear slipping down her muzzle.

Knuckles looked at the tiger, concerned. He didn't need any more explaining. Then, he remembered what he originally came to say.

"I saw some of Eggman's robots on the other side of the city. Taking them out might make you happier." He punched the air around him, imagining the sweet look of one of Eggman's pawns being destroyed.

Dakota's eyes brightened and lightning flickered in her eyes. She smirked as her tail flicked to the side.

"Yea! This idea is making me happy already!" She jumped up and ran over to Knuckles. "When do we start?"

The echidna chuckled. "We shouldn't leave them alone for too long. We'll take care of them now. Just you and me, until the others show up."

The tiger grinned and started dragging the echidna to the place the robots were located.

_SFF HQ…._

All of the agents dressed into their uniforms for the missions. Cora looked over the others, then herself. The material was nearly as black as her fur. It had similar claw-marks on her chest, though these were gold, outlined in gray. The back of her glove was metal, which covered her claws. She knew the purpose of this; her claws wouldn't be as useful, being covered by the gloves, and her claws would have probably ripped through the material.

The others had a unique design of their own. Silver has blue stripes outlined in silver, Leeta, green streaks, Lyco blue streaks of the same pattern. Elias had red stripes, Larry, brown-orange streaks. Shard didn't where anything, as he was a robot. As soon as they got the consent of Harvey, the two teams split up.

Sometime later, the four were flying over Soumerca. Larry was strapped into a harness connected to Shard. Silver was using his psychokinesis to keep in the air, as well as Cora. He seemed to be full of thought at the time.

"How's it hanging buddy?" Shard called out to the lynx below.

"F-f-fine! Are w-w-we there y-y-yet?" Larry called back, trying desperately not to look down.

Soon, they came to a cliff with a gaping hole, an air board on the edge. They saw this, and lowered themselves onto the cliff.

"That's our target's air board. I guess he's below." The hedgehog stated, setting the wolf down next to him.

After releasing Larry from the harness, Shard landed beside the air board, a somewhat gun-like trinket appearing from his left arm, which didn't have a hand attached.

"Okay, this is going to be risky. Stand back." He seemed to be using much energy at first glance. A small ping sound was heard as the others realized what he was doing. "Whew! There! Tracker attached! Oh, man, that was so dangerous and hard!" He said, wiping his metal forehead.

All three had looks of annoyance, though the most apparent, belonged to Silver. "Would you knock it off? We're on a serious mission here! At least if we have to track him down again it will be easier!"

Shard wore his cocky smirk as he looked over to the silver hedgehog. "Don't get your spines in a knot. We're here to take on one guy. I think we can handle it."

Larry and Cora inched closer to the pit. They both looked down, looking over the spikes at the bottom of the pit. Larry inched closer to the pit as Cora looked at him nervously.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Joker?" She said, using his call-sign.

"I'm not picking up any traps…" The robot responded to Silver, using infrared sensors that appeared from his forehead. "… But that's a **long** way down!" His sensors disappeared into his forehead.

"I'll lower us to the bottom then." Silver looked to the bottom of the pit, hands glowing blue. "How about 'no'? Your powers short out electronics, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm a **robot**." The hedgehog quickly turned to Shard. "It's how I use them! And my powers are silent. Your rockets would give us away. And we're trying to be subtle!"

As he spoke those words, Larry slipped and began to fall into the pit. Cora tried to pull him up, though getting sent into the hole with him. Both let out loud yelps as they began their descent. Silver and Shard quickly dived down to catch the two. Larry was plucked from the air by Shard, Cora scooped into the hedgehogs arms.

"Are you all right?" He asked through gritted teeth, sternly, though relief was also evident. "Y-yea… I-I'm fine." Silver nodded and quickly flew downward towards the opening at the bottom of the pit. He landed on the ground as Shard slid to a stop.

"And-whoosh-! I move even faster than you can think!" He said, laughing to himself. "Congratulations. And now, between their screaming and your engine, St. John will know we're here!" Shard's smile faded as he set Larry down. "You're a 'glass half-empty' type of guy, aren't you?"

"Why would you build a death trap that leads into a death trap?" Larry asked the others, sharing Cora's thoughts. Both of them were still shaking from their near-death experience .

"To keep this place a secret from everyone." Silver stated, as though it should be obvious.

"Step back, Bud. You've tripped enough today." Larry started making apologetic gestures at Shard's comment. "I'm sorry! I don't really have full control over jinxes."

"about that… I don't understand. Do you have powers like me?" Silver said, turning to Larry. "Not exactly." Larry began to explain as best he could as they walked forward, though Cora only loosely paid attention. She was too busy thinking. She was soon brought back to reality by the argument that would soon ensue.

"So the director decided to send you-someone who causes random things to go wrong-on sensitive spy missions?" Silver questioned Larry, unsure of what to make of him. "*cough*I know who the traitor is!*hack*'Scuse me as I leap to conclusions on a single bound!" More fake hacks and coughs ensued shortly after Shard's remark.

Silver sent a glare to the robot. "The director is helping me with that." His tone was ice-cold. There was no way Cora would even **think** of intervening.

The two continued to bicker back and forth and Cora, not wanting to be part of it, caught up with Larry up ahead. They peaked around the corner to see a hallway made of perhaps bronze. There were rectangular holes on all sides of the hall.

"Hey guys? Ace? Jack? We've got something up ahead." Larry stated to Silver, who's call-sign was 'Ace', and Shard, who's call-sign was 'Jack'. They both looked around the corner. "Nope. Not suspicious at all." Shard quickly stated.

"Anything?" Silver asked, curious about this hallway. "Nada. But if it's old or rudimentary enough, my scans might not pick it up." Shard was scanning the hallway, though his answer strengthened Cora's nervousness of this.

"Then it looks like it's up to me!" Larry announced, taking his first steps onto the metal floor. "La-Joker! Wait! I can just-!" He called out to him too late. Larry tripped on a lever, releasing hundreds of arrows at once.

"**Trap**!" Shard exclaimed as he pulled Larry back, with Silver pulling Cora back until she was behind him. Arrows were flying to and fro. Some were breaking other arrows, others crashing into the wall. A tip of an arrow landed inches from Larry and the hallway quieted down. They all stared wide-eyed at the mess before them.

Shard quickly shook it off and started moving again, Larry soon following suit. Silver looked to Cora with a stern glance.

"You'd better keep close." He almost seemed to growl protectively, then started following the others. Soon, the confused Cora scurried to catch up with them.

_The crypt of Ixis Vale…._

A skunk, Geoffrey St. John, whipped his head around at the sound of pings and a low rumble.

"Something set off the first round of traps… And I'm the first bloke to step in her in centuries." He said to himself, his accent immediately evident. "Somehow, I doubt that was a coincidence. Better move quick so I see them before they see me." His grip on the bag he was holding tightened, then he slipped away into the darkness.


	8. Chapter 7

**Again, I do not own Sonic or Archie Comics. Cora belongs to me, and Dakota belongs to Miss Randomnessify. **

_The Forests outside Knothole…_

Finding the robots had not taken long, as they were moving quite clumsily through the forest, knocking over a number of trees and crushed rocks as they did so. The group hid behind a fallen tree to divide up who got which robot.

"I'll get those three, Tails and T-Pup can get those two, Knuckles those three, and Dakota the two over there. Does that work for everyone?" Sonic whispered to the others and received nods as a reply.

They quietly stalked forward with Knuckles being the first to attack. With a battle cry, he took down his first two in a flurry of punches. Sonic was the next to attack with his spin dash, destroying the first and knocking over the second. Tails and T-Pup worked as a duo against the two robots. Tails used his, well, tails to knock them off balance, T-Pup then shocking them. Dakota lashed out her hands to release lightning, which would, of course, electrocute Eggman's robots and short-circuit , to Dakota's, and everyone's surprise, a large surge of electricity leapt from her fingertips**.**

"Eheh… I guess I'll need to practice my powers more…" She looked over her hand sheepishly.

Her ears perked as she heard a banging noise behind her. She hardly had time to turn around when she was sent face first into a tree. Knuckles growled and released his wrath on the robot.

"This is propaganda!" The white tiger quickly stood up and shouted to the forest around her, then blinked when she realized all of the robots were destroyed.

She looked around at the looks everyone was giving her and rubbed the back of her head. "Uh… It's just a saying from my school… Moving on…" She quickly took off, kicking up dust as she did so.

"I guess she really misses her friends…" Tails stated sadly, his tails drooping with T-Pup whining quietly beside him.

_The Catacombs in Soumerca…_

Not long after leaving behind the tunnel of arrows, the trio of agents came to yet another pit. Unlike the other, however, this one had blades and balls covered in spikes swinging back and forth on the ceiling of the cave.

"What ever happened to a good ol' fashioned pit of spikes?"Silver said half-heartedly.

"The balls have spikes." Shard stated as his red orbs scanned over the obstacle before them.

"Yeah… But the ones in the pit didn't **move**. How is anyone supposed to get past **that**?!" Larry quickly stated while motioning to the swinging blades and spikes of death.

"They're not, unless they have skills like Naugus. But my powers can hold them all in place, so we can-" Silver couldn't finish his sentence when Shard bolted in front of him and held out his cannon arm.

"Hold that thought. Superior technology coming through." Shard confidently stated and shot three laser beams, all hitting each of the chains and ropes. He then grabbed Larry and took off from the ledge.

Silver followed suit by using his powers to levitate both him and Cora. The silver hedgehog and the robot then continued to bicker back and forth, this time it ended rather quickly. Unknown to all three of them, a mist silently hovered to the ledge and began to take form of the skunk, Geoffrey.

After coming to a corridor, then finding no one was there, the trio entered to find a pillar with ancient symbols on it.

"That looks like writing. Can you make out what it says?" Larry looked over the writing in slight confusion, while Shard stepped forward and looked at them closely.

"Seems like a dead language. Running a cross-reference. Okay, I **think **it says: This is the crypt of Ixis Vale, one of Ixis Mogul's four elite." Silver looked over to a statue of a mammoth in a cloak worriedly.

"Ixis… **Mogul**? Are you sure?" Shard then turned his head and nodded.

"Pretty sure, yeah. Why?" Shard gave Silver a questioning look, with Silver simply turning away from the others.

"Uh… No reason." He lowered his head nervously while the others, except for Shard, who looked at him with disbelief, looked at him with a confused expression.

"Sure. **No reason**." Shard replied, sarcasm and disbelief evident in his tone.

"If this is a crypt, where are the remains? This is just a room." Shard then nodded and pointed to the statue of Ixis Vale, the statue's hands together as if it was holding something.

"It says Vale's remains are supposed to be right **here**." Silver looked around as though they were surrounded. "Which means Geoffrey was already here! He must be hiding! I knew he would hear us coming!" Shard then shook his head as he scanned the floor.

"He's not hiding… He's already **gone**! I got fresh tracks! I've got him." Shard sprang forward and took off, a determined look in his red orbs. Larry tried to stop him before he took off, but of course, he was too late.

Silver began muttering to himself while tracing the maze of tunnels in the air. He then gained a confident expression, then held out his hand, which was then glowing blue, towards a wall. The section glowing blue broke apart revealing a surprised Shard, who then smirked and gave a thumbs up. "Show off."

"You're just jealous. . Can you see if he's caught in that mess?" Silver said with a smirk appearing on his muzzle.

"Not immediately, but I saw him fall. He should be immobile, right?" Silver began to answer, but was cut off when Geoffrey jumped from the bundle of debris. Shard gave chase, but froze when he saw an arrow with a burning stick of dynamite fly towards him. In the chamber, the others were thrown back by an explosion. After finding Shard and removing the boulders from atop of him, shard shakily stood up with the metal of his body dented in most places.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate being buried alive?" Silver sprang forward, though jumped back when the tunnel and the chamber began to collapse. He quickly used his psychokinesis to hold up the soil and stone.

"Urgh… You got that, Ace?" Shard's dents suddenly began to undo themselves and he was returning to normal.

"Y-Yeah… I've got it for now." Shard nodded quickly and regained his composure.

"Good. 'Cause I dunno if I mentioned before, but I **really **hate being buried. Once is enough." Larry looked over Shard nervously. "What about you? You really got smashed up."

Shard could now stand up without his legs shaking, as well as most of his dents disappearing. "Auto-repair is kicking in. Just can't push my power core right now. And don't jinx anything right now, okay? Just… sit there and think non-jinxy thoughts." Larry slowly nodded and sat down by Cora. Shard then turned to Silver. "If I start digging a tunnel out, is that going to destabilize things too much for you to handle?"

Silver winced from the strain this was causing him. "N-No… Go for it." The robot nodded and spin dashed the stone.

"At least we got the tracker on the air board. I hope the other team is doing better…" Cora glanced at him, concern flickering in her hazel eyes. Hopefully, that wouldn't jinx anything.

"Hey Cora, I noticed you weren't talking that much. Is something the matter?" Cora turned to him and smiled slightly.

"I didn't have much reason too. Besides, most of the conversations were arguments." Larry managed to smile the very slightest. "I guess so… What happened to your arm?"

Cora looked to her arm to see a slash in the material and a red liquid, already beginning to harden. "I suppose this happened when the chamber collapsed. It doesn't look severe. Though hopefully, Silver will not find out, if he does, he'll probably kill me…" Larry quickly nodded in agreement, then watched Shard tunneling through the rock. This will take a while.


End file.
